


Bridge Passage

by xtwilightzx (blackidyll)



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Gen, Post-Game, pre-secret ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-11
Updated: 2012-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-18 10:16:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/559894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackidyll/pseuds/xtwilightzx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Consider the past three weeks a little vacation from your day-to-day doings,” Joshua tells them, and it might or might not be an Imprint. “But now, it’s back to the bustle of living. I expect good things from you. Nothing like a little death to put life into perspective, after all.” </p><p>On resetting Shibuya after the Final Game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bridge Passage

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [subarashiki_ds](http://subarashiki-ds.livejournal.com/)'s Summer Revival challenge: _Displaced Cadence_.

Megumi’s little scheme with the Red Pins make things much easier for Joshua, to be honest. He might be the Composer, but he still has to work with the soul and potential that Shibuya and its citizens possess, and although a single human’s Music is easy enough to rearrange, united they resist like a group of rowdy fans at a concert gone out of control, near impossible to influence and rather difficult to direct. 

With the people of Shibuya frozen in time and thought, it’s almost effortless to reconstruct Shibuya from the ground up, with the added benefit that he can freely manipulate memories and reality. It’s mostly clearing out the Taboo Noise and their influence in both the UG and the RG and shifting the people and buildings out of the way for him to do that, and when Joshua finally wipes the Taboo Noise refinery sigil from Udagawa and dissolves the Red Pins, each and every single one of them, Shibuya’s Music surges to the forefront, bright and vibrant and clean once again. 

Sanae’s still in the throne room, fiddling with a notebook or sketchbook or whatever and Joshua hopes he’s doing something to stall the other Angels from poking a wing into their business, while Shibuya’s still testing the new scores upon which it plays its Music.

“The show’s not quite over, J,” Sanae says to his thoughts, scratching colors onto whatever he’s drawing with – _ha_ – an Angel’s feather quill. “They’ll keep watching until Shibuya’s final outcome is confirmed.”

“Mm.” Joshua lifts a glowing hand before him, relishing the chorus of energy he can touch directly now. Three weeks down-tuned and forcibly suppressing his powers, and it’s strange how much this feels like the first time he composed, everything new and fresh and inspiring again. Certainly reliving the life of a teenager had done wonders for his sense of humor. “I suppose you’d know, Sanae. Wonderful job on the refinery sigil, by the way.” 

The scratching of Sanae’s quill stops and in the quiet between them, Joshua smiles. 

“I’d have thought the murals and the sigil would have burned out anything else that could have survived there, but you drew them to coexist despite their conflicting purposes. ‘Gather’ and ‘Destroy.’” Joshua turns around; Sanae’s looking at him with quiet steadiness and no, the Angel really doesn’t regret plotting to dispose of him. 

Joshua doesn’t regret killing Neku or almost destroying Shibuya, so he supposes that makes them even. After all, Shibuya, even in its current state in limbo, is already better for their actions. 

“I think I’ll be entitled to an after-lifetime’s supply of fine tea, Mr. H.” Joshua says, smirking, “and not a single quip about my lack of taste for the rich bitterness of coffee.”

“Not so fast, J,” Sanae says automatically, almost on principle, and then he scratches at his cheek with the tip of his quill sheepishly. “Well… we can negotiate on that later, boss. Now that you’ve taken care of Shibuya, what are you going to do with the kids?”

Neku is still lying on the floor of his throne room, eyes closed as if in slumber. A single bullet really shouldn’t kill his proxy in the Underground; the Players can survive worse on their day-to-day battles with Noise and Reapers alike, but Joshua had honestly meant for that final Game to be the last and perhaps those intentions had transferred themselves to the guns.

Pity, really, that Neku hadn’t taken the shot. Joshua’s still a little curious about it, but despite his natural clairvoyance he can’t read any parallel paths where Neku does, so he doesn’t get to see if he Ascends or Falls or quite simply dies, for good this time. 

Joshua down-tunes to his RG form between one step and another and kneels to brush one hand against Neku’s hair. Across the room, he can feel Sanae shift, invisible wings flexing and closing restlessly. 

“What’re you thinking, boss?” 

“I thought you read minds,” Joshua says absentmindedly, studying his proxy. Neku should really just be Soul now, but defiant as always, his proxy had clung stubbornly to his own form. He’s strong enough to do it even unconsciously. 

“Not when you’re focusing like that, Josh.” 

Joshua digs through Neku’s pockets for the Player Pin, giggling softly when he imagines what Neku’s reaction would be if his proxy’s awake; spluttering rage and flustered embarrassment, probably. He picks out the pin through touch and feeling alone, and when another pin sings out its identity to him Joshua pulls it out as well. 

“… I do believe this is one of yours, Sanae.” Joshua smoothes a thumb against the squirrel Noise insignia emblazoned across its surface and it’s not quite right; it’s Sanae’s handiwork, but the Soul and intent within belongs to another.

Sanae has wandered over now, the sketchbook tucked under one arm, and he grins when Joshua holds up the pin. “She belongs to herself. I just helped her along the way. Rhyme, Beat’s little sister.” 

Joshua looks thoughtfully down at the pin. “A Player, who lost the Game.” 

“They’ve been fighting to save her, Phones and Beat both,” Sanae says, turning his attention back to his sketchbook and trying so hard for nonchalant that Joshua knows that’s a barb somewhere down the line. “He fought for her and for Beat and for Shiki. They became important enough that he’d risk everything for them. He was happy, when they got Rhyme back from Konishi.” 

“And you say that like I should care what my proxy feels.” 

Sanae meets his gaze and grins ruefully. “Neku fought for you too, boss.”

For a moment time stops again, and Joshua stares back at Sanae unblinkingly. He doesn’t look down at Neku because that would be ridiculous, but he’s quite aware of Neku’s presence between them. The Pact does not dissolve on anything less than the erasure of one Partner and although the connection is no longer an active flow of energy, it still exists, like thin gold thread. 

He doesn’t respond to Sanae’s statement, and he most definitely is not looking at Neku, so Joshua focuses on the squirrel pin, calling up the Soul within but stopping short of activating it. 

The Music is quiet but rhythmic and remarkably harmonious for Noise and Joshua reads through the lines of it, the song of its short life. And then he delves further inwards, to the girl whose Soul makes up the Noise and reads her song too. 

What do you want, Joshua asks, and the chords that come back sing of a jumble of emotions, chief amongst them an overwhelming feeling of love and: _to protect_.

Joshua lets the notes fade away and looks past the pin in his hand to Neku. His proxy, who didn’t take the shot when Shibuya and all his friends were at stake, because Joshua was the one standing across from him. Joshua would read the entirety of his song to understand why, but Neku’s strong enough to take down a Conductor, and Joshua suspects he’ll find it harder to manipulate Neku’s Music now. 

“Only because Neku will never leave me in peace if even one of them doesn’t make it back,” Joshua says aloud and uncodes the pin, taking the Soul and rewriting her back into a little girl, black skull-patterned cap and all. 

It takes considerable effort for the next step, reincarnation, especially in his RG form, but Joshua returns Rhyme and the Bito boy to their home, together; Shiki, he places outside her friend’s house so she can get along with the reconciliation and the two of them can start designing future fashion lines for Shibuya. 

“Consider the past three weeks a little vacation from your day-to-day doings,” Joshua tells them, and it might or might not be an Imprint. “But now, it’s back to the bustle of living. I expect good things from the three of you. Nothing like a little death to put life into perspective, after all.” 

When Joshua comes back to himself, Sanae’s grinning at him, a little surprised and very, very pleased. 

“All three of them, boss? I didn’t think you’d have it in you.” 

Joshua stretches briefly, arching his spine like a cat after a leisurely nap. “You’re just satisfied that I saved one of the pieces you think is essential to Shibuya’s wellbeing.”

Sanae shakes his head, and from the subtle ripple in the air, almost lighter than Joshua can detect, he’s looking into Rhyme’s future, her potential, more in-depth than Joshua’s clairvoyance can give him. “She’ll find life without her entry fee difficult. But imagine what she can do, when she overcomes that hurdle.” 

Joshua tosses the blank pin back to Sanae, who catches it deftly. “If you say so.”

“I’ll be off, then.” Sanae brandishes his sketchbook and invisible feathers rustle in counterpoint. “Better start producing before Shibuya gets into full swing. I’ve got a few ideas to help stabilize things as the grounds settle in. New wall tags with new messages for a new Shibuya.” 

Joshua studies the drawings that he can make out, ideas for new merchandise tags and pins; the murals and graffiti wall tags, Sanae will paint on the spot, imbuing his codes into the art as he goes. “Be my guest. I have one more former Player to take care of.”

Sanae shoots him a roguish grin. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t, J.”

Which, considering all Sanae had done to save Shibuya, didn’t put much restriction on Joshua at all. Joshua lets Sanae hear that thought before the Angel teleports out, and Sanae simply chuckles before disappearing. 

Joshua tugs on one orange spike and sighs dramatically at his unconscious proxy. “Sometimes you’re more trouble than you’re worth, Neku. And you’re not even awake to appreciate it.”

Beyond them, Shibuya is swinging back into life and Joshua will have to go back to the fine-tuning the district soon, to smooth out the inconsistencies. Neku’s Music is strong; Joshua presses one hand against Neku’s cheek and he can hear it under his fingertips. _Live, and keep going, no matter the odds_. It’s not a bad message at all. Joshua can put him back into the RG and Neku will start influencing those around him, all on his own. 

Neku’s life makes a particularly misleading song; two almost deaths, a change in key, a brief pause almost like the conclusion of the piece, and then it sweeps on, stronger and livelier. 

He’s even influencing Joshua, now. 

It doesn’t take very much effort to tune Neku back to life, and on a whim, Joshua leaves him on the Scramble Crossing, amidst the flux and flow of the crowd. 

“Just a little fun for me, Neku,” Joshua says, almost fondly. “It’s what you get, for making me do all that extra work.” 

He nudges the Neku’s Music a little, back to the RG, and suddenly the crowd is staring down at the spot they’ve been unconsciously avoiding, at the teen lying face down on the asphalt. 

“Time to wake up, dear.” 

On the Scramble Crossing, Neku’s eyes open.

**Author's Note:**

> I always thought it was particularly diabolical of Joshua to let Neku wake up on the Scramble Crossing that final time. Like Neku, I thought he’d been put back in the Game again.


End file.
